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The Boxing Day Test is over after four days following a declaration from Australia who went on to bowl the West Indies out before stumps on Day 4.
The West Indies were able to post their best total from an innings so far in this series but it wasn’t enough to threaten the 459-run lead that Australia held when they declared overnight.
Middle-order batsmen Denesh Ramdin and Jason Holder were the West Indies’ best performers on Day 4, both recording half-centuries, but once they fell the Test was quickly concluded.
Mitch Marsh took 4/61 off his 17.3 overs, including the vital wickets of Ramdin and Holder, but Nathan Lyon was man of the match for his seven wickets across the Test.
Final score
Australia 3/551d & 3/179d
West Indies 271 & 282
A bit of a fightback from West Indies pushed the second Test into the fourth day but Australia should start favourites to wrap up the match on Tuesday. You can follow the live blog of the fourth day of this game from 10:30 am (AEDT).
The prospect of a three-day finish loomed large as I had mentioned in my previous preview but a fighting West Indies managed to circumvent that possibility.
Their lower-order batting pulled them out of the mire they had found themselves in and gave them some hope going into the rest of the series.
They could well have been rolled out for next to nothing in not too many overs when they fell to 6/83. But Darren Bravo found an able partner in Carlos Brathwaite and they batted well to keep the Aussie bowlers at bay.
Brathwaite was helped by two lives, both times getting out to Pattinson no-balls – before he went on to notch up a maiden fifty. The rest of the tail supported Bravo well to help the West Indies post 271.
It was just their second-highest score in Test matches away from home this year, second to their 329 against South Africa early this year.
Having been in the field for a little over 100 overs, Australia refused to enforce the follow-on, and piled up 3/179 by close, off just 32 overs. The West Indies chose to spread their field early and the hosts took advantage of that.
The lead’s soared up to 459 and with no side having ever chased down 460 to win a Test, and given what’s transpired so far in this series, it will be interesting to see whether West Indies can get close to even their first innings score.
There’s every chance Smith might want to declare first thing in the morning. The one reason to delay that would be his own impending century. It might shave a further 30-45 minutes off the remaining 180 overs in the Test match but that shouldn’t be a huge bother.
As far as the West Indian chase is concerned, it will be interesting to see whether the top-order has learnt anything from the exploits of Bravo and Brathwaite. Can they survive another day to push the game further into the final day?
You can follow the live scores and a blog of this fourth day of the Australia versus West Indies second Test from 10:30 am (AEDT) on Tuesday and post your comments in the section below.
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